TRP: Gavi and Jonn (Fishmonger)
ABBY Day 223. Glimmerton fish market. Of all the places Gavi'd been, the fish market had a smell that she'd never forget. Smelled like death and seafood. It was great. Lots of people yelling, hawking their wares, lots of people thronging around-- it was chaos and Gavi loved it. She'd just got done 'haggling' a particularly cowardly merchant down to pennies just about, and was about to head out back to camp when she thought she saw a familiar face. Course when she turned to get a better look, it wasn't the Luci girl that she'd seen at the wedding. Favored her a lot though. And hey, Gavi didn't need much an excuse to go chat with someone. So she swaggered on over, coming up just over the kid's shoulder. He was haggling with a merchant too, and so Gavi figured she'd give him a hand. "Hey," she said to the merchant, letting her lips twist into a wide, malicious grin. "I'd suggest you'd cut your price down by half. At least." IZZY Jonn had been wheedling and sweet-talking his way through the market, because he'd already spent most of his money on Hansel's wedding gift, and he still needed some food. It was going pretty well, but this guy just wouldn't fucking fall for the big-eyed innocent waif act, and when Jonn had tried to hit on him, that hadn't worked either. He just needed some fucking seaweed paper for that food with rice that Hansel liked -- it wasn't even that expensive, this merchant was just a dick. Then a tall half-orc woman came up and grinned at the guy and bargained with him in a way all five foot four inches of Jonn wasn't able to, and he opened and closed his mouth a couple times and looked between them. Jonn dropped his attempts to look sweet and grinned too. He wasn't super good at telling half-orc ages, but she looked a little younger than Hansel, maybe? So he leaned against her arm, keeping the toothy grin in place, and brightly said, "My sister knows all about seafood. You oughta listen to her." The merchant probably didn't buy the sister thing, but he didn't have to. He got the point, and shoved the packet of seaweed across the counter of his stall over at Jonn, who snatched it like someone else might, first. "Just fucking take it," he muttered, looking at the woman and then down. She had a huge axe on her back. "I don't want any trouble." "Thanks!" Jonn bounced on his toes, then turned his grin on her. "Didn't you want somethin' too, sis?" ABBY Sis now? That was adorable. Gavi shot the little guy a grin before glancing back at the fish stall. "Hmm," Gavi eyed the merchant's wares considering. She had finished her shopping, but hey, who ever turned down free stuff? "I'll take one of those, going rate, yeah?" she said, letting her grin turn menacing again. "I'm not lookin' for any trouble either." IZZY The fishmonger scowled and shoved her selection across the counter at her, saying, "All right, all right, clear off already," through his teeth. Jonn beamed at him and ducked away, not committed enough to the grift to try to pull the woman with him or anything. He went in the general direction of the castle. ABBY Gavi grabbed her spoils, thanked the guy, and then turned and followed after her so-called 'brother'. "Hey kid," she called, falling into step beside him. "Good deal huh?" she said, grinning. "Y'mind if I tag along here? Name's Gavi." IZZY Jonn grinned back. Neat. "Yeah, I don't mind. Thanks for the help. I'm Jonn." He should shake her hand, or something, but he didn't really want to. He curled his hands around the strap of his bag instead. "D'you live around here or you just passing through? I feel like I would've noticed you earlier." Not a ton of half-orcs in Glimmerton. Wasn't as bad as Shepherd Hills, though. That place fucking skeeved him out. She looked like an adventurer, though, with the axe and all. ABBY "Yep, pretty new though," Gavi said. "Month, two months, I dunno, something in that range," she waved her hand dismissively. Who really cared how long it'd been anyway? "You local then? Y'don't look much like a fisherman." IZZY "Nah, I live in Skyport." He adjusted his bag a bit, weighing his options. She probably knew about the Runners, if she'd been here a couple months. If she'd threaten a merchant, she might be dangerous to him, too -- bandit sort of deal -- and if he dropped that he knew them, it might protect him. Or, she might be more of a town guard type, and he'd heard that Hansel fucked one of them up for messing with Goro. Half-orc, too. She might not like the Runners and associating himself with them could be a bad idea. Eh, he could run really fast. "I'm just visiting my dad. He lives up in the castle." ABBY "Oh shit that castle?" Gavi jerked her chin in the direction of it. "My nephew lives up there. Griffin. Good kid." These castle folk were just about everywhere. Neat. Good kid to stick up for then. "Hey you gonna stab me if I ruffle your hair?" she said, half joking and already reaching for it. IZZY That castle? Jonn was puzzled for a moment. Were there a lot of castles around here? He didn't know. Maybe. The idea distracted him and he forgot to respond to the first thing -- right, right, he kind of knew Griffin, or at least knew he existed, that was weird -- and flinched away from her hand instinctively, narrowing his eyes at her. "Maybe." ABBY Oh. Well, that was unexpected. Gavi faltered, and then pulled her hand back to scratch the back of her neck, looking around awkwardly. "Okay. So. No hair ruffling then. Got it." IZZY Hmm. That was tricky, 'cause he knew he wasn't supposed to stab people, in general, but he also wasn't supposed to lie, but he also wasn't supposed to let people just touch him. Not without paying, anyway. Jonn wasn't sure where to go from here. "I mean," he mumbled. "Just being honest." ABBY "Hey, s'all right," Gavi said, dropping her hand back down by her side. "I mean, threw me off for a second there but t'be fair you wouldn't be the first to stab me over his personal space." IZZY "Yeah, I've almost gotten stabbed over that, too," Jonn admitted. ABBY Gavi chuckled lightly. "But hey, we learned, right?" she said, spreading her hands and grinning, careful not to bump into Jonn. He seemed all right with her being closer at least, just not touching. Gavi could work with that. "Being all-- smart and shit. S'annoying though sometimes." IZZY He perked up a bit. Gavi was cool. She got it. "Fuck, yeah, it is. Gotta figure shit out and all." (Maybe she was like him. Probably not. Maybe, though.) "Like, all the time. People are weird, right?" He wasn't exempt from that, though. He liked touching people, he just didn't like them touching him. Mixed signals, or whatever. ABBY "Yeah. Was easier when I could just tell 'em to shut up and listen and they had to," Gavi complained. Now people argued back-- and that was fun too, but only to a degree. Then it got annoying. "Now I gotta give 'em a reason to listen to me. Bein' big and intimidating is a pretty good standby," she said, gesturing back at the market and grinning. IZZY Jonn tilted his head, giving her an intrigued look. That could mean a lot of things. "Why'd they have to?" ABBY "Because I'm Gavriella the Spineripper, from the Sarachet tribe," Gavi said, her grin taking a vicious edge. "Lieutenant to Bloodgrut the Smartest, favored by Gruumsh." Her shoulders dropped and she sighed. "Course that don't mean squat out here." IZZY "Huh." That all sounded impressive, but Jonn had no idea what any of it meant. He blinked. "Gruumsh is trying to kill my dad." ABBY "Oh yeah?" Hm. Gavi might have to step in there then. "What'd your dad do?" IZZY "Nothin'." Jonn scowled, but he guessed that was usually how that happened, god wanting to kill people and stuff. It'd been happening to Hansel since he was a kid, though. He couldn't've done anything. "I mean, I guess Gruumsh isn't trying to kill him, just keeps, like, taking control of him and shit, and it's gonna kill him." His grip on the strap of his bag tightened. It'd happened again, too. "Fuckin' Gruumsh," he said in a low, sullen voice. "Maybe you could ask him to stop, if he likes you so much?" ABBY Okay- first off wasn't Hansel the one getting possessed? Some human guy shouldn't have lasted but one go. And second-- "S'not how it works, kid," Gavi said. "I follow his will, I don't ask him to change it. Gruumsh needs a vessel y'know? So he can come back and fight for us." IZZY Jonn scoffed. That was dumb. Eldath was a way better god -- she actually listened to people like Luci. What was the point of'em if they didn't help the people who followed them? Gruumsh just thought he could take whoever he wanted, even if they didn't follow him, do whatever he wanted. Well, he thought about saying, I'm gonna kill Gruumsh, me and my sister and brother are, so you're just out of fucking luck. Guess you gotta find a new deity. She was a lot bigger than him, though, and that'd probably annoy her, so he shrugged. "Well, he's not fighting for you now, 'cause every time he tries my dad's friends kick his ass." Shit, sounding all pleased about that might annoy her, too. Oh well. It was out now. "Maybe he should pick someone else." ABBY "Hey I gotta question. What's a human guy doin' surviving Gruumsh takin' over like that anyway?" Non-orcs burned out from the power that was coursing through them. And, y'know, kid was looking too excited about the whole 'Gavi's god's ass getting kicked', but Gavi just glared a little for now. First, she wanted to clear up this confusion. IZZY "Oh." Right, right. "I'm adopted. My dad's a half-orc." He gave her glare an innocent look, acting like he didn't know why he'd earned it. ABBY "Oh huh." That would explain it. Hey wait a second. "You Hansel's kid then?" Gavi grinned, that was neat! (And considering how Hansel was-- and Gavi too for that matter-- maybe better stop talking about Gruumsh so much.) "The fuck," she said, delighted. IZZY Jonn snorted out a laugh. "Uh-huh. You guys, like, friends?" She hadn't been around for the whole hydra killing thing, but neither had her nephew, or Ripley. Holding down the fort, or whatever, he guessed. (Maybe they could get Gruumsh to target her instead of Dad. Was that wrong? Hansel probably wouldn't like it, if they were pals, but if she was such a big fucking fan of Gruumsh, then ... Maybe he'd talk to Luci and Goro about it. They'd know.) ABBY "Oh yeah we're buddies now," Gavi said. "He's great. Hot too." IZZY "Hey." Jonn looked at her sharply, but then caught up to his defensiveness and smirked. "Too bad you think so, 'cause I don't think he's gonna fuck a devout of Gruumsh any time soon." He bet they weren't actually friends, either. God, Hansel could be really dumb, though, about people -- maybe he did like her anyway. Someone had to fucking look out for him. ABBY "Hey, s'all right," Gavi drawled, grinning sharply. "I like a challenge." IZZY He drew his shoulders up and ground his teeth, and focused on how Hansel had told him to not stab people, so that he wouldn't think about that half-elf who'd thought Hansel would be a fun challenge, and how Jonn had seen Hansel go outside with him and then found Hansel alone in the alley, folded in on himself and sobbing. Yeah. He wasn't thinking about that. Instead, he glared at the ground and quietly said, "Friends don't talk about each other like that." ABBY Huh. Kid was getting all upset. Shit. Gavi scratched the back of her neck again. "Uh. Aright? Look-- kid. Don't worry about it. Let the grownups handle it, it'll be fine." IZZY Jonn gave her a long look. He wanted to say: I'm twenty-three. I raised my sister since she was a baby. I lived on the streets in Skyport with an infant for two years. I started fucking people for money and favors when I was fifteen. He wanted to say: Don't fucking talk to me like that. I'm not stupid. I know how this works. I know how people your size work. I know what Hansel's like. Someone has to protect him. What he eventually said, flatly, was, "My dad told me I shouldn't stab people except in defense, so you should stay the fuck away from him," and then picked up his pace towards the castle, leaving her behind. ABBY "Oh hey, hey wait up." Gavi jogged after him. Fuck. There went another one. "Hey, look, kid-- Jonn. Look uh, I'm tryin' to get better about giving people reasons to stab me. So if we could just- talk a bit more?" Was this even gonna work now? Gavi had no idea. Why was talking to these people so difficult? IZZY Jonn glanced at her disdainfully. "Whatever. Just don't fucking touch me." ABBY Gavi held her hands up. "Aright. No touching. I gotcha." Shit. How was she supposed to make this better. "Look. Uh. I don't really know what I did here," Gavi admitted. "And I really am trying to give people less reasons to stab me. So, if y'could, maybe help me understand what's wrong here?" IZZY Jonn hesitated, then squinted at her for a moment. She really seemed like she didn't know. And that didn't make her less of a threat -- to Hansel or to him -- that was for sure -- but if she was trying, then ... Hansel said that trying mattered. And that it was important to help people. "'Kay," he said slowly. His anger had been instinctive. He took a second to dissect it and put it into words. "I told you that ... Hansel wouldn't wanna fuck you, 'cause of the Gruumsh thing, and -- you took it as a challenge, to like -- make him." He gripped the strap of his bag, itching to have a knife in his hand instead. "And you said you were friends, and maybe he thinks you're friends, but you think he's -- a fuckin' mark." He glared at the ground. "And I'm not a fucking child. I know that people that're big like you think you can just take what you want." Didn't even have to be big. She was smaller than Hansel, but that half-elf had been, too -- Mishka was, and he'd still hurt Hansel. "You threatened my family," he said. Made herself a threat to him, too, but he cared about that less. "That's what you fucking did wrong." ABBY Gavi scowled and crossed her arms. She wasn't a threat she was-- getting defensive and prickly about the answer to the question she'd asked. Good going, Gavriella. "Look, ah, Jonn, I didn't.... I didn't mean to threaten your family," Gavi said slowly. "Didn't think about it from that angle." She huffed, running her hand through her hair. She might have to change her approach to more than just Jonn to make it up. "Aright look. I wanna fuck your dad. I ain't gonna lie about that," she spread her hands and shrugged. "But, I see what you mean, bout the threating thing. So, how about I say I'll back off a bit huh? If he isn't interested, I won't push it. But if he is, well, hey I ain't saying no." IZZY "Back off a bit," Jonn echoed in an undertone. He didn't know if he believed her. Jonn promised to do things because Hansel or Luci or someone else he trusted asked him to. There wasn't any reason for Gavi to listen to him. When he got to the castle, he'd go find Goro. Goro would keep people from hurting Hansel. And -- he'd tell Mishka, maybe, as long as someone else was in the room. "Whatever," he said again, still a bit sullen. Predators didn't stop being predators just because they stopped hunting for a while. His fingers itched, nails digging into the strap. "I dunno if you know what no sounds like." ABBY "Honestly kid? I'm not sure either," Gavi said wryly. "But I'm starting to figure that I need to learn." IZZY Jonn made a noncommittal sound. Maybe he could, like ... help with that, though. He shifted away from her a little because he was getting uncomfortable and antsy. "Well, y'know. I mean. Saying shit like 'no' and 'stop' is usually a good fucking sign. And threats. And like, pushing you off or moving away. Or grabbing someone else, to sort of hide." He did that. He'd done all of that. But he also did shit like -- "But locking up, too, and not saying or doing anything. And ... sometimes laughing, or ... joking and trying to be distracting ..." He trailed off, looking down again. He wished Hansel were here, to explain this shit. He was good at it. And then Jonn wouldn't have to say things, and he could just hide. Or if Finch were here, Jonn could hide and feel better about saying things. Finch'd probably have shit to say, too. They'd talked about this. ABBY Huh. Gavi had... ignored all those signs at various points. Shit. No wonder she kept pissing people off. "Well. Y'know I'm starting to get why I've just got the one friend now," she commented, scratching the back of her head. Hey wait a second. "You were doing the moving away thing," she said slowly. IZZY He scoffed lowly. He'd ... learned pretty quickly, from experience, what kinds of things made people not want to be friends with him, but he still just managed to put people off sometimes without knowing what he'd done. He kinda got it. Sometimes he was sure that the only person who cared about him was Hansel, anyway, and sometimes he didn't think even Hansel did. "Yeah, well," he muttered. "You're half a fuckin' foot taller than me, you intimidate people into doing shit, and you don't know how to take a 'no'. I could stab you, but you could still hurt me if you wanted to." ABBY "Huh." Yeah. He was right about that. Specially since she had that healing magic. "Yeah. Hey if it makes you feel better, your dad's already knocked me out like- twice. Pretty sure he'll skewer me if I hurt you." IZZY "Oh. Huh." Yeah, he was even more fucking sure she was lying about them being buddies, now. That kind of did make him feel better, though. Still meant Hansel would have to fucking -- fight back, but -- if he'd already done it twice before and won, that might be all right. "Okay," he said slowly. "Okay. Yeah. That helps, yeah. See." He tried to be helpful. "See, that's good. Trying to make me feel better, and shit." ABBY "Yeah?" Gavi half grinned. Fucking shitty way of making someone feel better. Gruumsh help her. "Hey lookit that, I learned a thing," she said. IZZY "Yeah." Jonn eyed her, still kind of wary. She seemed like she ... meant well? Like she really was trying. Just not doing a great job. Maybe she needed a list, like Hansel had given him. He didn't want to be someone's Hansel, though, like that. It'd make Hansel so proud, but -- he just didn't think he could. And ... he used to get upset with Hansel and scream at him and shove him -- Dad said he was lashing out -- but when he did that Hansel just picked him up and squeezed him and shushed him until he calmed down. If Gavi lashed out at him, he'd just be fucked. And he thought about the old veteran who lived out in the woods around the Sanctuary, who'd taught him what his body was worth. Gavi was tall and broad and scarred like her, had a voice like hers. Took what she wanted. "Uh," he said. "I'm gonna go see my dad. I don't want you to follow me." Sometimes, if he just bluntly said what he wanted, people would do it. It was a good test. ABBY Yeah, fair. Jonn had already been trying to leave and she'd stopped him. Gavi nodded and stepped back. "Yeah all right. See ya around-- or, not. I dunno." If the kid decided he didn't want to speak to Gavi any more, then she better learn to back off. IZZY END Title: Fishmonger. Summary: Gavi and Jonn bond over stealing food, then have a weird, unpleasant, but hopefully productive conversation about boundaries. Category:Text Roleplay